State Sites Reveal Secrets Of 12,000-year-old Past

Beneath its skyscrapers, superhighways, farms, rivers and lakes, the land of Florida has a story to tell.

It`s a story of prehistoric camels and mammoths and roving Indian tribes, of powerful Indian cultures, of Spanish conquistadors, Jesuit priests and Franciscan friars.

It is a 12,000-year-old story of survival in a land that did not always extend a welcoming hand to those who came to its shores.

From Miami to Pensacola, on the fringe of the Everglades and the banks of North Florida`s rivers, the Indians, Spanish and missionaries who once roamed this state left their mark. And archaeologists are using that to develop a picture of how Florida developed.

There are 12,500 archaeologicalsites recorded in the state Division of Historical Resources. They`ve been found by developers, farmers, amateur archaeologists and professionals. Many -- like the 1539 winter encampment of Hernando DeSoto at Tallahassee -- were found through pure luck.

At any given time, a dozen may be under active research.

Since 1834, archaeologists have been examining pieces of pottery, bones and fossils to find the key to Florida`s past. Some of the more notable finds include:

-- De Soto site: Within walking distance of Florida`s Capitol lies the only archaeological evidence of Hernando De Soto`s five-year trek through the Southeast.

-- Windover Farms: Near Titusville, archaeologists uncovered a 7,000-year- old skull containing brain matter that is undergoing analysis and could give a picture of the state`s original inhabitants.

-- Cutler Fossil Site: Located not far from Biscayne Bay in Dade County, this site reveals that the state`s Indian inhabitants were hunting shark 10,000 years ago. Along with human bones, evidence of extinct animal species has been found near a hearth.

-- Wreck of the Atocha: Spanish gold is found off Key West in the wreck of a treasure ship sunk by a 1622 hurricane.

Meanwhile, new sites are popping up every day. During construction for the Joe Robbie Stadium -- the site of the Super Bowl -- archaeologists uncovered about 25,000 Indian artifacts, including 3,000-year-old stone arrowheads. The find may signal that the stadium area was a meeting site for the Tequesta tribe in prehistoric times.

Florida`s first inhabitants were descendants of the Indian tribes that had come from Siberia into Alaska and then migrated south.

By the time they arrived on the peninsula, the glaciers had extended as far south as they would go, and Florida was about twice the size it is today. The land was drier; the climate much cooler.

``About 5,000 years ago, the climate and the environment changed to about what it is now. As the glaciers left, the sea level rose about 300 feet,`` said Jim Miller, Florida`s chief archaeologist. ``If there are any coastal sites that are 12,000 years old, they are now under water.``

While most of its early history remains under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico -- and no written record exists -- archaeologists have pieced together tidbits of information about the state`s original inhabitants from the findings of bones, pottery shards and crude stone arrowheads. Pollen, seeds and wooden sticks believed to be 10,000 years old help paint a picture of what the land was like then.

For the first 6,000 years, the tribes showed little regional difference. But then each tribe began developing its own style of pottery. Capitals were erected and marked by ceremonial and burial mounds. There were territorial wars.

Because of the nature of Florida`s soil, not many early skeletal remains have been found. But archaeological digs have revealed the Indians were hunters, fishermen and farmers. Hominy and corn were important foodstuffs -- in fact, corn fritters were popular thousands of years ago.

Although several tribes had established themselves by the time the Spanish arrived in the early 1500s, the most famous was the Apalachee, who were farmers, hunters and warriors. They lived in the Panhandle area, with present day Tallahassee their political center.

The Calusa -- who delivered the first hostile blow to Spanish settlers -- lived along the southern Gulf Coast. Big Mound Key, where ceremonial mounds reached 30 feet in height, was their political center.

Both tribes had highly stratified societies -- keeping control over resources in the hands of a few -- and were mound builders, the Apalachee making theirs from dirt, the Calusa from shell.

The Tequesta lived along the southeastern coast, mostly in the Dade County area. While they had some influence over tribal bands in present day Broward County and south to the Florida Keys, they often were under the political influence of the Calusa.

``The Tequesta were always on the move,`` says Miller. ``Their environment did not produce enough food. They would tend to assemble in smaller groups.``

Florida`s written history begins with the Spanish, who introduced livestock, citrus fruit, Christianity, metal tools and smallpox to the peninsula.